


A Lioness in the Lion's Den

by TheLastCure



Category: Mr Love: Queen's Choice, Mr. Love: Queen's Choice, love and producer
Genre: F/M, Slow Burn, sass for sass sake
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-03-30 23:31:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19037758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLastCure/pseuds/TheLastCure
Summary: After Victor let's one snide remark go, how do you handle another slipping out? You decide to press your luck.After spending most of her time not ruffling the CEO's feather's a chance encounter and a slip of the tongue put Sarah in a very awkward position.





	1. How It Started

                “For your job’s sake, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

                Sarah clicked her heel rapidly against the floor of the elevator. The nerve of that guy, if she didn’t need to investment so bad she would be marching straight back into his office. Even though that phone call had been last night, and she had checked multiple times that it was not some strange dream, it still made her blood boil. She felt the elevator stop: putting on her best customer service smile she headed out the building being sure to say goodbye to the person working the front desk. The front desk was always someone you wanted on your side. Pulling out her phone Sarah ran through her feed pausing at something posted by the smartass she had just gotten out of a meeting with.

                ‘Nothing comes without a price. No matter what you do, you have to pay your dues.’ It was sound advice in and of itself but coming from Victor…. Maybe Sarah would have to admit she was being just a bit petty, but who could blame her? She typed back, “Oh? I suppose that’s something you know all too well.” She posted the reply and hurried back to her own office.

                Barely through the door of her office, Sarah looked down to see the name she was expecting pop up on her text messages. Despite how detached he acted Victor was easy to get a response out of, as long as you challenged him in the right way. “Maybe it’s something you could use a lesson in yourself, or are you trying to get a rise out of me?” She turned off her phone screen and dove into her work. He could stand to wait a bit for a reply.

 

                “Lunch time, lunch time,” Sarah sung under her breath walking down to a new deli in the mall. They had been talking about a food show and she figured she might as well kill two birds with one stone and scope this place out. She pushed the door open and walks in and almost directly into Victor. Well this just got more interesting.

                “If you’re ignoring someone you might want to avoid walking into them.” Victor said with his normal smug tone. Sarah took a calming breathe before turning to face him with a smile.

                “Who am I avoiding? I’ve just now am taking a break from the company revamp, one week right?” She rocked back staying in her clumsy, friendly, half act. “To bad I didn’t catch you earlier I could have bought you lunch.”

                “How you make it through life is a wonder. I just got here myself though so I will take you up on your offer,” Victor said with the barest trace of a smirk while Sarah pressed her teeth together trying to bite back her mental scream. One of these days she was going to wipe that smirk off his face.

                The two waited in silence for their food for a while before Victor broke it, “You never did answer my question.”

                Sarah caught slightly off guard answered before thinking, “It’s not my fault you’re so easy to rile up.” She realized what she had said a second to late and decided she probably wasn’t getting a second free pass so might as well double down. She interlaced her fingers setting her chin down on them and smiled a Victor waiting for a reply.

                Victor, for once in the time she had known him, seemed at a loss for words. He quickly regained his composure however, “You know, is that really such a wise thing to do in your position?” He leaned in over the table trying to seem imposing, a move that probably would have worked on most people.

                “I suppose that depends on how well I can play this game doesn’t it,” Sarah said leaning in a bit herself, more in defiance then an actual power move. He was right that it probably wasn’t the best idea to aggravate him to much but she was sure she would stick in his mind at the very least. She went to say something else when the food arrived and she went back to her normal public persona thanking the waiter for the food.


	2. How the Deal was Made

                Sarah stayed in her work attitude the rest of the meal. Careful to not let another smart remark slip despite the fact she was sure Victor was trying to get to her more than usual. She thought she saw a bit of disappointment on his face at the lack of comebacks but it was instantly replaced by his normal poker face. Sarah mentally patted herself on the back; this was more fun than she had dreamed it would be. As she finished her meal Sarah noticed the sudden stillness of the restaurant as if time had stopped. That was just not fair, and also probably meant nothing good.

                “Was it you who did the feature for City News?” Victor asked. The conversation had switched back to work making Sarah mourn the loss of her hour reprieve from work.

                “The space folding segment, yeah that was actually a personal project. They did ask about long term projects though. Was that little thing really enough to make you regret pulling our funding?” Sarah teased shrugging her shoulders like it had been no big deal, even though that feature had been her most terrifying one to work on to date. Her eyes came around to lock with Victor’s who gave a quiet laugh.

                “You think it’s that easy?” Victor asked but didn’t wait for a reply, “If I invest in you, how long before you monopolize the four major networks?” He leaned back in the chair looking as calm as ever, “Answer truthfully, at least this time you won’t make another scene.”

                “Five years, less if I take this city news contract. Though I am insulted by the ‘if’, I already told you I’d make you regret pulling funding from us. It’s not a matter of if just when,” Sarah shot back leaning forward to rest her arms on the table.

                “To slow, half the time or back out now.” Victor replied coldly, “Unfortunately I don’t share the confidence you have in yourself, though I have no idea how you think you earned it.”

                “For someone with time in his palm you a certainly focused on deadlines, must be boring,” Sarah replied standing up, “As for my confidence, I’ve managed to get you interested haven’t I? Or do all your possible investments get such one on one attention.” She placed the money down on the table, “If you don’t mind, I have to go impress some high and mighty CEO.”

                She walked past Victor on her way to the door when his hand caught her wrist, “You didn’t answer.” She looked back to see the playful smirk across his face. If he could build LFG in 8 years and get to this position then of course she could keep up with his pace, her pride wouldn’t allow any less after how much he talked down to her.

                “Two years, but you increase your funding proposal.” Sarah replied causing Victor to let go of her arm. She turned to face him enjoying the fact that due to him sitting she wasn’t looking up at him for once. “I’ll even throw in a movie since you can’t seem to get enough of me.”

                Victor scoffed but didn’t lose the smirk that was in danger of turning into a smile, “To our partnership then, I’ll see you Monday to start the approval procedures.” He held out his hand to shake on the agreement, “I look forward to seeing if you can pull this off Sarah.”

                Sarah very nearly faltered at the use of her name, she was almost sure he had forgotten it. She shook his hand, “Prepare to be amazed.” As she let go of his hand the diner came back to life around them. Sarah walked calmly out of the deli before rushing back to the studio. Not like she wasn’t already in a time crunch but that smart ass was not going to be given any more reasons to gloat.

                Victor remained sitting at the table for a few minutes after Sarah left. Part of what she had said had struck a chord with him, why was he so interested in her? Having someone actually talk back to him was a welcome change in his routine but even before then he had given her more attention than he would have anyone else in that situation. He looked at the empty chair across from him, must be what they call intuition. Now to sit back and see if it was right.


	3. How to Show Up in Style

                “Just when I though Mondays couldn’t get any worse,” Sarah moaned watching the rain pour from underneath the overhang of her apartment building. She double checked all her files were safely tucked into her binder and secure, last thing she needed was to be walking into LFG with soggy proposals. Just as she readied herself to brave the rain he phone rang, she sighed and answered prattling off her usual greeting.

                “Where are you?” The voice on the other end made her do a double take, sure enough the caller ID says Victor. Before putting the phone back to her ear she double checked the time.

                “About to make my way to LFG, you wanted me there at nine sharp correct?” Sarah said trying to rearrange her load to talk while keeping all her papers dry.

                “You’re not at your office,” the annoyed reply sounded almost bored.

                Sarah took a deep breath before replying, “No, it’s been a very hectic weekend so I polished up the proposal from home, you know that place people sometimes like to go.” She probably shouldn’t be taking out her case of the Monday’s on her possible investor but between the attempted murder and a certain cop keeping track of her every move she really didn’t want Victor starting too.

                “Stay there, I’ll send a car.” With that, the line went dead. Sarah just stared at her phone and sighed, sitting on the stone bench beside the door and waits wondering when Victor decided to look up her address.

 

                A sleek black car pulled up in front of the doorway. Sarah gathered up her belongings again expecting one of the drivers or maybe Goldman to have come to give her a ride. When she looked back up she saw Victor standing by the overhang, umbrella in hand, “Are you coming?”

                Ok, so a car ride alone with Victor before going into possibly the most important meeting of her career. No stress once so ever. Sarah smiled rushing over to Victor getting a bit closer than necessary with the size of the umbrella, “Miss me that much already?”

                “Last thing we need is you getting yourself into another accident before this meeting,” Victor said walking her the few steps to the passenger door and opening it, “Do try to be careful, this is my personal car.”

                Sarah let out a scoff before making sure she slid into the car as gracefully as possible. Though Victor picking her up in his personal car? That alone made her stress meter rocket higher than it already was. She took the time of Victor walking around and getting in to calm herself, he probably is just trying to get her worked up before the meeting and that was not going to happen.

                “So what happened over the weekend, the girl at your office said you never made it back in after lunch.” Victor said as he pulled back onto the street. His tone of voice was different somehow but his poker face remained in place.

                “I just ran into the cop from the city news feature, that’s all.” Sarah said trying to keep her voice calm. She thought it had worked but the side glance she got from Victor made her falter, “There was a small altercation but nothing major, I figured I’d work from home the rest of the day and this weekend just to make sure I was in top shape for the LFG proposal!”

                Victor let out a sigh as Sarah slipped into her work attitude, pulling into the covered parking at the LFG building. He walked around the car and opened the door but stood blocking her way out, “Are you sure you’re up to this today? I won’t be saving you again if you mess this up.”

                Sarah looked to make sure no one else was in the area, “Don’t you worry Mr. CEO, I’m sure winning the board over will be child’s play compared to you.” Sarah swung her legs out of the car still being blocked from standing up but putting herself firmly into Victor’s space. She looked up through her bangs at him with a coy smile plastered across her lips.

                She very nearly blushed at the smile Victor gave her; she managed to fight it back, mostly, but had to wonder why on earth that smile had such an effect. Victor stepped back offering a hand to help her out, “Well then Miss Producer, I’ll see you in the conference room. Hopefully your wit is as good in the boardroom as it is outside.”

                “I told you before,” Sarah took his hand pulling herself out of the car, “Prepare to be amazed.” She waved and hurried inside the building. Soon as she was out of sight she pulled out her phone sending off a message to the company group chat. “Who blabbed to Victor?”

                “You mean that handsome man in the suit that came to give you a ride?” Kiki replied with a slew of emojis.

                Almost immediately after came a reply from Anna, “It was Kiki.”

                Sarah muted her phone and sighed; if only it was socially acceptable to tape your coworker’s mouth shut her life would be easier. She smiled and walked over to the receptionist, “Hi can you point me in the right direction for the funding approval meeting?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like my work consider buying me a coffee!   
> ko-fi.com/thelastcure


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